Adapter for glass stopcock



y 15, 1956 E. F. KAISER ADAPTER FOR GLASS STOPCOCK Filed Nov. 9, 1950 INVENTOR E. F: Kfi/fiE/F 7' ATTORNEY United States Patent ADAPTER FOR GLASS STOPCGCK Ernest F. Kaiser, Hasbrouck Heights, N. 3.

Application November 9, 1950, Serial N 0. 194,780

Claims. (Cl. 251181) My invention relates to adapters and more specifically to adapters for converting any glass stopcock to a pressure tight stopcock.

In many instances of laboratory gas sampling and gas measurement work as well as lamp and electronic tube manufacture, and elsewhere, the problem of introducing a desired pressure or amount of pure gas or other fluid to an evacuated or other system is encountered. Under these conditions it is usual for the apparatus or tube manifold and connections to the pumping or fluid supply system to be glass throughout. Glass stopcocks are used as pump and gas-fill valves. On occasions when glass stopcocks are being operated for instance, to shut off the pump connection after a system has been evacuated to the desired vacuum or to admit a desired fill pressure of gas to a system, the rotated plug of the stopcock will slide from the tapered stationary barrel, undesirably admitting air to the evacuated system or contaminating a pure gas supply. To prevent just such an occurrence and to avoid the use of special high cost pressure stopcocks, an adapter, namely the device of my invention, is attached to the glass stopcock eliminating the annoyance of a leaking stopcock.

One example of prior art adapter consists of an internal adjustable clamp formed as a hollow open-ended container which grasps the stopcock plug. Fitting around this clamp is an open-ended hollow cylindrical barrel which rests against the bottom of the bead of the stopcock shell. The inner container has a threaded stem from its bottom, said stem projecting slidably through a suitable hole in the bottom of the adapter barrel. A coil spring fits around the threaded stem of said clamp and two nuts are used to fix the compression in the spring against the outside bottom surface of the barrel of the adapter. The adjustable internal clamp and its threaded end have a monoplane diametrical slot, cut through the side walls and running most of its length, to give the required radial clamping adjustment. However, due to the limited amount of adjustment afforded by the slot in the adjustable internal clamp many sizes of adapters are required to fit the wide range of stopcock plugs and shells in use today.

Therefore the primary object of my invention is to provide a single size universal adapter which converts any one of a considerable size range of glass stopcocks to a pressure tight stopcock.

A novel feature of my invention is to provide means in addition to the normal rim of the barrel thereof to rest against the bottom of the shell bead of stopcocks smaller than said rim.

Another unusual feature of my improved adapter is provision of an internal clamp of approximate U-shaped vertical cross section, adjustable through a wide range of effective clamping upon stopcock plugs of different sizes.

A further feature of my invention is an alternative embodiment consisting of a novel reversible coiled spring barrel compressed against the head of the stopcock shell by a yoke juxtaposed on the inner surface of the bottom 2,745,632 Patented May 15, 1956 of the novel U-shaped internal adjustable clamp of the preferred embodiment.

Referring to the accompanying drawings in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a stopcock and the preferred embodiment of the universal stopcock adapter attached thereto;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view along line 11-11 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view along line III-III of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view along line IVIV of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2 and illustrating the function of the inner tabs of the barrel against the bottom of the shell bead of a small size stopcock;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 2 and showing the alternative embodiment of my universal adapter;

Fig. 7 is a sectional view along line VII-VII of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the yoke of the alternative embodiment of my universal adapter; and

Fig. 9 is a sectional view, similar to Fig. 6, showing the coil spring barrel reversed for use with small size stopcocks.

TThe preferred embodiment of the device of my invention as shown in the accompanying drawing and particularly in Fig. 1 through Fig. 5 consists of an internal adjustable clamp 10 which grasps the bottom lip 11 of stopcock plug 12, and a hollow open-ended barrel 13, fitted around said clamp 10, which may rest conveniently against the bottom surface of bead 14 of stopcock shell 15. Coaxially aligned with clamp 10 and projecting beyond its outer bottom surface through a suitable hole 16 in the bottom of barrel 13 is screw 17. A coil spring 18 fits around said screw 17 and two nuts 19 are used to fix compression against the bottom external surface of barrel 13.

Said clamp 10, conveniently of corrosion resistant spring bronze, cadmium plated, or of other suitable material, may be descriptively explained as a segment cut from a. hollow open-ended cylinder by two parallel vertical planes equidistant from a vertical diametrical plane, of said cylinder, thereby providing a pair of clamping arms on opposite sides of the clamp axis. The top open-ended edges of said clamp arms are bent inward to form contact fingers 2i) which grasp the upper surface of the circular bottom lip 11 of stopcock plug 12. The inwardly projecting ends of said fingers 20 are each medially notched, as at 21, for greater contact flexibility. One arm 22 of clamp 19, a suitable distance from bottom thereof has a radial hole 23 of appropriate diameter and beveled inward to countersink the head of a suitable adjusting screw 24 in said arm with said screw projecting toward the other arm 25 of said clamp. Said other arm 25 of clamp 10 has, diametrically opposite said countersunk hole 23, a rectangular shaped hole 26 dimensioned to fit, with clearance, a head 27, of recctangular cross section, of a bushing 28. Said head 27 is tapered inwardly from its top and bottom edges to the shank of bushing 28 and has a width equal to the diameter of the shank of said bushing. Projections 29 are punched inwardly from top and bottom edge of said hole 26 at the same angle as the taper of said head 27, thereby securing said head 27 nonrotatable and flush with the outer surface of said arm 25. The shank of said bushing 28 is threaded internally to receive adjusting screw 24. The gripping diameter of contact fingers 20 is decreased and increased by respective tightening and loosening said screw 24 in said bushing 28. Said arms 22 and 25 of said clamp 10 are joined diametrically at their ends remote from fingers 20 by a bottom wall 30 in which there are slots next the junctures with said arms to assure flexing thereat and toreduce strain elsewhere. Midway of bottom 30 of clamp 10 is a suitable squared hole 31 of proper dimensions'to rethereby providing ashoulder 33 at the baseof-the neck.

A suitable .hole 34 coaxially in said-neck and partially below bearing surface edge 33, thereby forms the neck as a hollow thin wall projection suitable for peening. Said .neck is inserted into hole 31 ofv bottom wall 39 with shoulder 33 resting against the outer surface of said bottom wall 30iand is peened over,-as at 35, against the inner surface of the-bottom thereby lockingsaid screw 17 securely and non-rotatably as an integral part of said adjustable clamp 10.

Except for the projecting end of screw 17, said clamp is located within barrel-13 inposition for fingers to engage over bottom lip'11 of the stopcock plug, and so that the upper rim of the barrel is in the vicinity of or in contact with the bottom of head 14 of stopcock shell 15. Appropriately near the open end of said barrel 13 are a plurality of tabsor ears 36, here shown as four in number and equispaced -90 apart, said ears being punched inwardlyfrom the side wall37 of said barrel 13. Likewise, 7

according to the illustration, said ears 36 are approximately rectangular in cross section and remain afiixed to side wall 37 at the lower bending edge of each ear. In use of the adapter with a stopcock the inside diameter of side wall 37 of which exceeds the outside diameter of head 14 of a small size stopcock shell 15, said ears 36 may be bent inwardly as shown in Fig. 5 sufficiently to underlie and be engaged by the lower surface of said bead 14. A cir cular hole 39 is provided at the geometric center of the 'bottom wall 38 of barrel 13, said hole having sufficient diameter to admit, with clearance, the screw 17. Said hole is punched outwardly from said wall 38 so as to provide a flare or outwardly projecting lip over which coil spring 18 seats.

To assemble the universal stopcock adapter, said screw 17 isinserted through circular hole 39 in the bottom wall 38 of barrel 13. Coil spring 18, suitably of beryllium bronze and fitting loosely over said screw 17 and'witha small amount of clearance over projecting lip 40 of circular hole 39, is compressed against the outer surface of bottom side wall 38 of barrel 13 by the aforementioned nuts 19. Said nuts 19 have one end machineddown to provide anintegral collar therewith of diameter approximately' that of projecting lip 40 of circular hole 39 so the collar of nut 19 next coil spring 18 will fit within the end of said spring for centering it and holding it on the nut. The under nut 19 is used as a lock nut, but being of the same construction as the upper nut, said nuts are interchangeable.

The alternative embodiment of the device ofmy invention referred to specifically in Figs. 6 to 9, inclusive, in the accompanying drawings, provides an internal adjustable clamp 10 which dilfers from the previously described clamp 10, in that circular hole 31 in bottom sidewall30 is replaced by a rectangular shaped slot 41. Said slot41 is dimensioned to fit with a small amount of clearance a similarly rectangularly shaped protuberance 42 of a yoke 43.

Said yoke 43 is essentially a strip of adequately stiff material, such as aluminum, having saidrectangularly shaped protuberance 42 punched outwardly therefromat its, geometric center, and having arcuate ends bent'upward 90 from the general plane of the yoke to form retaining lips for coil spring barrel46.

The outside diameter, of coil spring barrel 46 fits the in side diameter of retaining lips 45 with a small amount of clearance. The uncompressed length of'coil spring barrel 46 is approximately one and one-half times the length of .internal adjustable clamp 10. -At one. end of coil spring barrel 46, two or more additional convolutions 47 are wound inwardly in the same plane -as the last outside convolution of the coil. For use with small-sizes of stop cocks, the end of the coil spring barrel 46 having the inward convolutions 47 is positioned upwardly to engage against the bottom surface of bead 14 of stopcock shell 15, whereas for larger sizes of stopcocks the spring barrel is positioned the other end up.

According to my invention, to convert any glass stopcock with the preferred embodiment of my universal adapter to a pressure-tight stopcock, screw 24 of internal adjustable clamp 10 is loosened in bushing 28 to allow the inner edges of contact fingers 20 of said clamp 10 to slide along the sides of the bottom lip 11 of stockcock plug 12 and onto the top gripping surface of said bottom lip 11 as shown in Fig. 2. Screw 24 is then tightened into bushing 28 locking said clamp 13 firmly to said plug 12. Barrel 13 is next slid over screw 17 through circular hole 39 in its bottom wall 38 until its open-ended edge rests, or, if the stopcock shell 15 is small, until the four inner ears 36, rest against the bottom of the bead 14 of stopcock shell 15. Coil spring 18 is then pushed over screw 17 and lip49 of the bottom wall 38 of barrel 13, and against the outer surface of said bottom sidewall. One nut 19 with its collar toward coil spring 18 is next fed onto screw 17 .until the desired compression of coil spring 18 againstthe bottom sidewall 38 of barrel 13 is obtained, the second nut being then applied to lock the first. Thus stopcock plug 12 is seated in its stopcock shell 15 and the stopcock rendered pressure-tight.

According to my invention to convert any glass stopcock with the alternative embodiment of my single size universal adapter to a pressure-tight stopcock, first, screw 24 of internal adjustable clamp 10 is loosened sufficiently in bushing 28 so that theinner edges of contact fingers 26 will slide along the sides of the bottom position of stopcock plug 12, and the screw tightened to maintain engagement of said .fingers with the lip. 11 of said plug. The protuberance 42 of yoke 43 is seated in slot 41 in the bottom wall 30 ofsaid clamp 10, thereby locking said yoke 43 and clamp. 10, together. If the bead 14 of stopcock shell 15 is large, coil spring barrel 46 is inserted into the retaining lips 45 of yoke 43 with the end having additional turns 47 resting on said yoke .43, and with the larger rim of said spring coil barrel 46 pressed upwardly against the bottomsurface of bead 14 of stopcock shell 15, thereby giving the required compression to seat plug 12 effecting a pressure-tight joint with stopcock shell 15.

If the head 14 of stopcock shell 15 is smaller than the inside diameter of coil spring barrel 46, said barrel 46 is reversed and assembled in the guide lips 45 of yoke 43 with the end having the additional turns 47 facing said head 14. Contact fingers 20 of clamp 16 are caused to engage upon upper gripping surface of bottom lip 11 of stockcock plug 12 and adjusting screw 24 tightened as explained above. Thus, in this mode of assembly also, stopcock plug 12 is seated securely in stopcock shell 15 in a pressure-tight joint.

By way of summary, it will be seen from the foregoing description that the device of my invention both in its preferred embodiment as shown in Fig. 1 through Fig. 5 of the accompanying drawings and in its alternative embodiment as shown in Fig. 6 through Fig. 9 of the accompanying drawings is a'single size universal adapter which converts any one of a considerable size range of glass stopcocks to a pressure-tight stopcock.

An unusual feature of the preferred embodiment of my universal adapter is the provision of tabs or ears 36 in the barrel 13 near its open-ended top, to rest against the bottom surfaceof the head 14 of stopcock shell 15 when theoutside diameter, of said bead 14 is'less than the inside diameter of said barrel 13.

Anothennovel feature which it is desired to emphasize as appearing in both embodiments of my invention, is the internal clamp-18, adjustable through awiderange by means of adjusting screw. 24 and threaded bushing 28, transverse to. and foradjusting gripping position of resilient arms 22 and 25 of said clamp 10. Said screw 24 and bushing 28 have their respective heads countersunk into their respective side walls 22 and 25.

A further feature of my invention to which attention should be directed is the alternative embodiment consisting of the novel reversible coil spring barrel 46, having additional convolutions 47 wound inwardly in the same plane as the last outside convolution to rest against a bead 14, the outside diameter of which is less than the inside diameter of the body of coil spring barrel 46; and a yoke 43, juxtaposed on the inner surface of bottom wall 30 of internal adjustable clamp 10, to hold and compress said coil spring barrel 46 against the bottom surface of said bead 14.

It will be undersood by those familiar with the art, that I do not wish to restrict myself to the detailed description of the device of my invention except as indicated by the following claims.

I claim:

1. A universal adapter for converting a glass stopcock to a pressure-tight stopcock, comprising an internal adjustable clamp having an approximate U-shaped vertical cross section thereby providing a pair of arms and said arms being bent inwardly 90 at their outer ends as contact fingers, said contact fingers being adjustable over a wide range, a screw and internally threaded bushing connecting the opposing arms, an outer screw projecting at the bottom of the U-shaped clamp in a direction opposite from said arms, a barrel for said clamp, said barrel having a hole in the bottom thereof for passing said outer screw therethrough, said barrel having inwardly directed tabs, auxiliary to the open-ended periphery of said barrel for supporting a stopcock, a nut on said outer screw, and a coil spring fitting around said outer screw and having one end against the bottom of said barrel and the other end supported in a desired compression by said nut on said outer screw.

2. A universal adapter for converting a glass stopcock to a pressure-tight stopcock, comprising an internal adjustable clamp having an approximately U-shaped vertical cross section, thereby providing a pair of arms and said arms being bent inwardly 90 at their outer ends as contact fingers, said contact fingers being adjustable over a wide range, a screw and bushing connecting the opposing arms, and a reversible coil spring barrel having at one end as an auxiliary bearing surface auxiliary inward convolutions in the same plane as the last convolution of the barrel, said barrel containing said clamp therein; and a yoke extending crosswise under the coil spring barrel and having outer arcuate ends bent upward 90 as retaining lips, said lips and top surface of said yoke supporting said barrel, and a midportion of said yoke interengaging with said clamp.

3. An adapter for use with any one of a plurality of different sizes of stopcocks, comprising a barrel having an open end for admitting a portion of a stopcock into said barrel and providing engaging means at said open end for engagement with said stopcock to limit entry thereof into the barrel, a clamp having gripping fingers in and movable radially of said barrel contiguous to the said open end thereof to engage a portion of the stopcock within said barrel below said engaging means, trans verse screw means extending from one finger to the other and in contacting engagement with both for etfecting and maintaining engagement of said fingers with said portion of the stopcock within said barrel, and interengaging means for said barrel and clamp remote from said open end of the barrel.

4. An adapter for use with any one of a plurality of different sizes of stopcocks, comprising a barrel substantially symmetrical about an axis and said barrel having an open end and having a plurality of stopcock engaging means substantially at said end and facing outwardly in the direction of the axis, at least two of said engaging means having one a different spacing from said axis than the other and thereby adapted to engage dilferent sizes of stopcocks, an adjustable clamp in and attached to said barrel at a part thereof remote from said open end, said adjustable clamp having a range of adjustment transverse to said axis at least as great as the said difference in spacing between said engaging means and with said adjustable clamp within said barrel at any of its adjusted positions within said range of adjustment.

5. An adapter in accordance with claim 4, wherein spring loading is applied to and exerts pressure axially of and in opposite directions upon said engaging means of the barrel and upon said clamp.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,316,302 Harbaugh Sept. 16, 1919 1,892,835 Hamer Jan. 3, 1933 2,412,597 Brewer Dec. 17, 1946 2,642,258 Stone June 16, 1953 2,621,887 Todd Dec. 16, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 500,661 Great Britain Feb. 14, 1939 

